Improvement in covers for sap pails or buckets



-H. s. PRESTON & F. G. RULIFSON. COVERS FOR SAP FAILS on BUCKETS. 32,471 Patented Sept.19,1876.

WITNESSES if A57 INVENTUR Z E Ziczzvzz 076 ,PreJZazZ N,PETERS, PHOTO-LITHOGRAPH-ER. WASHINGTON D C UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HAMILTON s. PRESTON. AND F. GLEASON RuLIFsON, OF STAMFORD, N.Y.

IMPROVEMENT m cOvERs FOR sA'P PAlLS OR BUCKETS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 182,473, dated September 19, 1876; application filed December 11, 1875.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, HAMILTON S. PRES- TON and F. GLEAsON RULrFsoN, of Stamford,

in the county of Delaware and State of New of our improved cover, showing it attached to a pail or bucket. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the underside of the cover.

In making sugar from the sap of trees the interiors of the buckets are required to be protected from the rain and impurities generally coming from. the branches of the trees, so that the sugar made from sap so gathered is materially injured. To provide against this danger, and avoid such liabilities to the deterioration of the sap, is the object of our invention, which consists in providing the cover with a hood, or constructing it with a raised arch, so that the end of the spile or spout may be readily inserted underneath the same, and thereby protected, as well as inclosing the entire opening in the bucket or pail, and prevent the entrance of leaves or dirt and other impurities coming from the trees.

Our invention further consists in providing the cover with a means of attachment to the bucket or pail in a manner that will admit of the cover being readily detached and removed, or admit of the sap being poured from the pail without removing the cover, as desired.

Inthe accompanying drawings, A is designed to represent a bucket or pail of metal or wood, and of any desirable form or construction, and may be provided with an opening near its upper rim, by which the bucket or pail may be suspended upon a nail or hook driven into the trunk of the tree under the spout; and B, our improved cover, which may be also of any suitable material, and. of circular or other form to suit the form of the bucket. This cover B has an opening, a, extending from its edge to a direction toward the center, and covered by a hood, 0, consisting of a semicircular plate, 12, closed at its back by a plate, 0. This hood 0 completely protects the sap as it passes from the mouth of the spile or spout, while at the same time the bucket, with cover, is sufficiently secured to prevent-any possibility of its being blown 0E by the wind. The cover B is provided with suitable means for the ready attachment of it to the pail or bucket, consisting of hooks d and a hinged locking-plate, e. The bucket or pail may be made with an annular bead or shoulder, against which the hooks d and plate 6 bear in securing the cover to the bucket after the bucket or pail has been suspended upon the nail or book. The cover is then placed over the buck et, with the ends of the hooks underneath the head, after which the hinged locking-plate e is turned down, thus securely fastening the cover in place.

This construction affords great facility in' attaching or detaching the cover from the pail or bucket, and admits of the removal of the pail or bucket without interfering with the cover when it is desired to empty it of its con tents or remove one bucket and replace it by another.

The peculiar construction of the cover, with its hood, admits of its being used with the same beneficial results when applied to any form of bucket, and its simple construction allows of its being manufactured at a very trifling cost, bringing it within the reach of those desiring such an article, as they may be readily made to fit any size or form of pail, whether of wood or metal.

As the purpose and efi'ect of the arch do not depend on any of the various manners with which it may be constructed, or the precise form described, we do not, therefore, wish to be understood as limiting ourselves in these particulars, as the arch or hood may be varied in form, and it may be stamped, spun up, or cast at the same operation of forming the cover, or it may be constructed separately, and afterward secured to the cover by soldering, or in any other suitable manner.

Having now fully described our invention,

what we claim as new, and desire to secure by d, and hinged locking-plate e, substantially as" Letters Patent, is a and for thepurpose set forth.

1. A cover for sap pails or buckets, formed In testimony that we claim the above we with an arch or hood, (3, raised above the have hereunto subscribed our names in the edge of the bucket to permit the spile or spout presence'of two witnesses. to be inserted underneath the cover and over the edge. of the pail or bucket, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

2. The combination, with a suitable bucket Witnesses: or pail for holding sap, of a cover, consisting N. K. WILGOX, of a lid, B, with hood 0, provided with books CALVIN HAMILTON. 

